The first soldier to speak was too shaken to form coherent words. Another quickly clarified:
"A ship—under the water!"
"Enemy attack? Why didn't radar pick it up?!" the commander barked.
The squad leader cut in, "Not a warship, sir. It's... it's a pirate ship. The kind from legends."
The Jolly Roger fluttering from its mast left no doubt.
The commander blanched, but the Foundation's "CIA agents" exchanged glances.
Anomaly.
They bolted for the shore—only to find nothing.
A brave soldier pointed at the churning waves: "It dove underground!"
The Black Pearl
Meanwhile, in Level -4, Luo Shu finally saw the black mass clearly.
A pirate ship.
To those fluent in Spanish, "Negro Perta" meant one thing:
The Black Pearl.
But this was no ordinary vessel—it was a ship-in-a-bottle, its true form sealed within glass.
Its attacks weren't corks, but cannon fire.
After weakening the fissure with barrages, the bottle had released its payload: the Pearl itself, which shrunk to fit the corridor (8m tall, 5m wide).
Miniaturized but no less deadly.
Ghost pirates and skeletal crewmen leaped ashore, growing to full size as they charged Luo Shu.
The ship fired downsized cannonballs at the truck, which tanked hits only thanks to its silicon-augmented armor (harder than M1 Abrams plating).
Luo Shu and the truck ran for their lives.
Tactical Errors
Ghost Pirates' Mistake:
Their ethereal blades phased through the truck, invading Luo Shu's mind.
Big mistake. His consciousness crushed them like ants, vaporizing their physical forms.
Skeletons' Advantage:
No minds to enslave. Pure physical threats, hacking at Luo Shu with cutlasses.
The Pearl recalled its ghosts, doubling down on skeletons.
The Vortex Unleashed
Above, the Bermuda Vortex—now merged with the bay—bloated to 50 meters wide, shredding Site-167's walls like paper.
It devoured everything—except silicon. (Had it been otherwise, it'd be Keter-class, world-ending.)
The "CIA" team panicked, calling the O5 Council:
"Two potential Keters at Site-167! Requesting immediate nuclear—"
Luo Shu's Peril
Trapped between:
The Pearl's flood below.
The Vortex's maelstrom above.
Currents wrenched him in all directions.
His oxygen tank tore free.
One breath left.
Darkness closing in.